Now is not the time to fall behind.With more temperate temperatures, a slight snap in the air and a marketplace ripe with buyers, home sellers should seize the chance to properly position their home for a sale that can truly bring a happy holiday to all.It just takes an eye for items in need of adjustment or repair, a bit of elbow grease and some advice from local home-sales experts as to what sellers should do to get things in tip-top shape.

Today’s savvy buying bunch is a well-educated group. Realtors say house hunters know neighborhoods, interest rates, number of bedrooms desired (and the like) well before they visit a potential new home.And the impressions begin before they even get out of the car.

THE NEW VIEW“First impressions count,” said Cheryl Sides of COLDWELL BANKER TEC Realtors. “If buyers won’t get out of my car, tell me to keep going because they don’t like the outside, I will never get them to see the inside.“Curb appeal is the first thing a buyer sees,” she explained. “Start on the outside. This is why your yard needs to be inviting. Plant yellow plants and group flower pots near your front door. Yellow evokes a buying emotion and yellow sells. Marigolds are inexpensive. It’s fall! Put out some pumpkins.”Additional solid advice for sellers concerns the nuts and bolts of the exterior. Keep the shutters, roof, awnings, gutters and other aspects of the home in good order. That’s a valuable investment toward future sale of the property.

General upkeep on the exterior is critical, since buyers look at deferred maintenance as a bad omen.“Buyers don’t want to think they’re going to have to go in and do some work,” said Mary Bergeron of GARDNER, Realtors. “If they see peeling paint (outside), they are going to make the assumption that the interior is just as bad.“It’s really important to set the stage when the house is shown, and it begins with cleanliness,” she added.

PUT UP THE PERSONALGetting the buyers inside might be easy for some homes, but once the future residents are inside the door, attention must be paid to the detail that will keep them interested.De-clutter and de-personalize spaces as much as possible to make it easy for potential buyers to see the size and shape of the rooms. This also makes it easier for buyers to imagine their own things in the room.“People recognize that all the cute pictures you have of your kids and your family mean you live there, and they (the buyers) don’t,” said Mat Berenson of LATTER & BLUM, INC./REALTORS. “The buyer can’t imagine living there if it is too personalized. You need to de-personalize a house.”Otherwise, she said, a buyer “walks out of the house and only remembers the pictures.”Neutral colors, effective but restrained decorating and careful furniture placement are also important aspects of the seller’s game plan.Other good ideas from Realtors concerning the interior appearance when showing a home:• Keep kitchen counters clear of just about everything, and keep closets only half full so the buyer can imagine their things in that space.• When showing the house, keep all the lights on to tell the buyer the fixtures work but also that the house is a bright, inviting place to live.• Make certain the only smells are good smells, which means no pet odors or overly perfumed candles or room sprays. •If an item or collection is truly irreplaceable, find a place to store it while you are showing the home.• Don’t take things personally. Yes, this is your home as the seller, but the greatest hope is that it will become someone else’s home — soon.

SPARKLE AND SHINEMost of all, a clean house is going to sell. All the Realtors questioned concurred on the issue of cleanliness.“Clean. And I do mean clean,” noted Darlene Richmond of RE/MAX Real Estate Partners. “Windows, lights and light fixtures, door jambs, molding, bathrooms including grout, glass sliding doors, air conditioning vents, ceiling fans (blades and light kits), floors, carpets, window blinds and curtains, light switch plates, stoves, refrigerators, counter tops, cabinet fronts, doors” should all be spotless and dust-free.“Outside, pressure wash the driveway, walkway and any other concrete areas like patios and the fence,” she said. “At the front entrance, clean that light fixture and the outside of the front door and the mail box. Actually sometimes a new mailbox, outside light and mat is necessary.”From front to back, little things can go a long way toward selling your home, especially in the fall.